Coming soon: A scratch-and-sniff children’s book of Seattle smells?

It was only a matter of time before someone took children’s literature into the realm of smell, the largely ignored fourth sense.

Some things might be better off ignored.

First-time author Amber Jones is getting a lot of attention for her book “New York, PHEW York.” It’s all about — you guessed it — how New York smells.

A hotel concierge in her day job, Jones told the Guardian that horse manure helped birth the idea:

“I work in Times Square and one day while I was walking to the train I got a delicious whiff of pizza,” said Jones. “As I was looking in the window at the pizza, deciding if I should buy a slice, I didn’t realize I was stepping in horse manure. I went to the corner to make sure I didn’t get any on my shoe and was engulfed by shish kebab smoke from a food cart. It’s then I thought ‘there should be a scratch-and-sniff guide of New York.’ Viola! The idea was born.”

Viola, indeed! I wonder if the book mentions the smell of garbage bags piled up on the sidewalks several times a week?

Jones says she has plans for other scratch-and-sniff books about cities, though it’s not clear which areas are on her list.

So, what about Seattle? Do we need to teach children about the smells associated with our sometimes-stinky city?

Yeah, we all know coffee would be on the first page — and maybe something fishy, thanks to Pike Place Market and the region’s long history with that industry. But what else about Seattle stinks?

I asked on Twitter if Seattle needs one of these books. Here’s a taste of what I heard.

From @TimKerrick : “Not now. Maybe a few years ago when we had more going on. But we’ve lost the Rainier brewery & other fun smelling companies.”